All about fly-fishing for Steelhead, Salmon, trout on Vancouver Island BC. Best Flies to use for Steelhead, Salmon & trout, technics for catching Steelhead, Salmon & trout in rivers and saltwater beaches.

About Single Spey Flyfishing

Followed my passions over the years for better or worst... Have had the Steelhead bug now for 28yrs. I have played drums professionally for several years, grew up on rock & roll. Being a Flyfishing Guide for 15 yrs on the coast of BC has given me a lot of experience and a broad knowledge for approaching Salmon & Steelhead fishing with a fly! I have owned a couple of lodges in BC, one called Spey Lodge with the more recent addition being Boundary Lodge. In the past 4 years I have been back on Vancouver Island starting up a flyfishing Guide service based on the banks of the Campbell river, just a few properties upstream from the famous Roderick Haig Brown heritage property. This is where my family and I are currently enjoying our lives on the coast of BC.

Thanks for viewing my first blog. For more info about my guide service view www.bcflyguide.com or if you have questions about flyfishing Vancouver Island in general please feel free to ask. This site's all about Flyfishing Vancouver Island with some great pictures from guided & personal fishing trips, new flies I'm tying, whats new & all that other good stuff related to casting a fly on island waters! Flyfishing, guiding and my passion for this sport is always growing. I hope this blog will assist those of you in keeping up on what I'm up to here, and why I think Vancouver Island BC is so under rated for it's Flyfishing opportunities. Thanks for visiting and come again, regards.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Finally A Post!

Hello From Campbell River.... I apologize for the lack of posts, there's more to come very soon:)

Our neighborhood has lost a gentlemen that was one of the last of his era, Van Egan. Van was a good friend of Roderick Haig-Brown, a passionate fisherman and writer of all things we as anglers of the coast love. I did not know him well but feel a close connection due to our similar passions on the water. I'm certain he lived his life just as he wanted it, in his home on the river till the end, he will be missed.

With many things in the works I have not found too much time on the water to give you true honest fishing updates. I have been out a little but it's only been an hour here & there, nothing I can consider a true fishing day. I will bring everyone interested up to speed on whats going on in our area! First off I have to say it's been the oddest season since the new year for weather conditions, we had a warm winter, flowers were growing on our property the end of January! This in mind I thought we'd be in for a drought of a summer as spring would have come early, not so... When May & June came along it stayed cool out. Other than our past week of a heat wave our weather has stayed mostly below 20c. Relating this to the fishing; A good season ahead for water levels on smaller rivers that tend to drop out as the summer progresses, these water levels should make for great fishing! Up until last week The Campbell River has been the same size since April making it simply unfishable and tough to find fish in for those crazy enough to challenge it's heavy flows... In this past week I have seen many good things come along with the lower flows; the Pink Salmon are slowly poking in the watershed... The other night we watched a seal swim through the home pool, that can only mean the numbers of fish must be getting significant.
Last week I guided a fellow for 2 days, we fished a Summer Steelhead river that was also flowing large but for the better! We found some Steelhead that actually chased his fly, One actually had the fly in it's mouth twice but he couldn't manage to hook it up! A crazy day it was where the fishing gods just didn't let up:) On Friday we floated the Campbell, my client hooked many trout, a few of decent size but for the most part small tiddlers. As we floated down the river we made a stop at a run and encountered about 30 fresh Pink Salmon. None of them would take our flies so it was tough catching for a couple of days, good thing it's not all about that!!

I've managed some saltwater fly-fishing but it's been a windy July so far making this fishery not so ideal. I've talked to many charter guides who say the Coho seem to be in great numbers out there and we're expecting a record return of coho according to BC Fisheries & Oceans. They have also made the opening for Pink Salmon in the river a month earlier than usual, starting on July 15th, this must mean hey are expecting great numbers if Pinks too! I hooked a nice fish yesterday near the mouth of the Campbell down the beach that I lost while casting a Bait Pattern. Running my Jet Boat back up the river to home I stopped at a run to again hook another fish that came off the line all too fast; this fish picked up the fly while I was stripping in to make a cast, a fishing curse when this happens as it's hard to get a good hook-up. another heavy feeling fish that I never had the chance to Identify! I landed a beauty Sea-Run Cutthroat yesterday near tidal water that I thought was a Pink Salmon, a good trout indeed. In the minimal time I've been on the water this last month fishing's been positive when I've been out.

Not being able to be on the water so much I have made many upgrades close to home; I've worked on my Jet Boat, Raft, fishing rods, flies and property, nothing unusual for any married man I guess:) Most importantly I have spent a lot of time with my son who's now on summer holidays. It's not wrong to take the jet boat up to the lake for pleasure is it? It makes a great craft for swimming off when the sun is high and I can't be casting at Chromers.